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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28788339">Harry Potter and Sword Art Online</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kidagirl8/pseuds/Kidagirl8'>Kidagirl8</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sword Art Online (Anime &amp; Manga), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Child Neglect, Gamer Harry Potter, Past Child Abuse, Slow To Update</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:06:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,415</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28788339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kidagirl8/pseuds/Kidagirl8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dudley has gotten a new toy forbidden from Harry as always. It is the new Fulldive system and SAO beta which was exclusively sold in japan. Despite paying tons of money for them after Dudley mentions the game is like magic his father throws it away. Harry curious to know what is so bad about magic smuggles it inside and hides it in his cupboard. Thus begins his explorations into SAO.</p><p>It has been brought to my attention that despite my thought that it was different enough even in the beginning that it was obvious that my work was inspired by Magic Online by MsInsaneone on Fanfiction.net. I will warn that her fic though awesome is abandoned which is why I had this made by an awesome ghost writer I’m not sure I should name due to copyright laws.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dudley Dursley was always one to crown around about his new toys. Even when his cousin was far younger than Harry, he always showed off his things, and he never let anyone else touch them. Not his parents, not his friends, and especially not little Harry Potter. He had tried once, to play with one of Dudley’s toys, when Dudley was nine and Harry was six. A firetruck Dudley broke and threw away. Harry had picked it up out of the trash after he was finished with the gardening. It was trash after all, it’s not like Dudley would miss playing with actual garbage that he himself threw away.</p>
<p>Harry was wrong. When Vernon Dursley saw Harry playing with the firetruck in the comfort of the garden, Vernon had grabbed him by the arm and roughly dragged him into the house. Vernon threw Harry into his room, the cupboard under the stairs, and screamed at him that ‘freaks who steal from good and normal folk don’t eat!’ And Harry didn’t eat. Not for three days. He was barely let out of the cupboard to do the chores and go to the bathroom. Harry never tried to sneak anything past the Dursleys again.</p>
<p>
Not from his cousin Dudley, who threw away most of his toys. Not from his Uncle Vernon, who yelled at him whenever he tried to get a band-aid to stop his bleeding fingers after a day in the garden. And not from his Aunt Petunia, who made him cook all of their meals while he only got the leftovers.</p>
<p>
And, as Harry learned a long time ago, all that crying did was make the Dursleys angrier, and when they were angry, they yelled at him more.</p>
<p>
So, years later a now ten year old Harry didn’t say a word when a now thirteen year old Dudley came home from an outing with Vernon and Petunia with a brand new box that read ‘NERVEgear’ on the side, Harry didn’t say anything. Harry knew what that box was. There wasn’t anyone in the world who didn’t know what a NERVEgear was. It was all over the news, and since that was all the adult Dursleys watched so as not to ‘inspire freakish behavior’, Harry knew very well what it was.</p>
<p>
A device capable of bringing people into new worlds form the comfort of their home. Free to run, and jump, and play, all in fantastic worlds so far apart from this one.</p>
<p>
And Harry desperately wanted it. He hated it at the Dursleys. He hated having to clean after them, cook for them, do all the chores around the house and everything. And all he got in return was scraps of food, screamed at for doing anything not ‘normal’, and thrown into his cupboard.</p>
<p>
He tried running away once. The police caught up to him quick when someone reported him missing when they didn’t see him doing chores. The Dursleys were all nice and smiley while throwing all the blame onto Harry for ‘acting out’. When the police were gone, they locked him in his cupboard for a week. He wasn’t even allowed out to use the bathroom. When he was finally allowed out, due to Dudley complaining about the smell, they forced him to clean the cupboard, and Harry found out Dudley told the neighborhood kids that Harry pooped his bed all week.</p>
<p>
Which pretty much killed any chance he would have of a friendship between the kids. Not that he had much a chance anyways, but now he had a reputation in the neighborhood. A worse one than ‘the delinquent child that was born from a whore and a drug addict that died in a car crash leaving him to be cared for by good, honest folk’ as the Dursleys told him. And the neighbors. And the police. And the teachers. And the doctors. And anyone else they encountered that they haven’t met before.</p>
<p>Harry. Hated. Living with the Dursleys.</p>
<p>
They hated him. They hated his family. Harry didn’t know what a ‘whore’ was, but it didn’t matter if his mother was one, living with her and a drug addict of a father would have been infinitely better than living with the Dursleys.</p><p>
They wouldn’t have forced him to live in the cupboard. They wouldn’t have made him work until his fingers bled, then punished him for bleeding in the house.</p><p>
The opportunity to leave the Dursleys, even for an hour of the day made Harry seethe with jealousy, though he didn’t show it. Dudley would have been insufferable to deal with. Vernon and Petunia would have bought Dudley more games for the NERVEgear if they knew Harry wanted it. They only bought him Dudley one games. So far.</p><p>
It was a beta version of something called ‘Sword Art Online’. Harry didn’t know what a beta version was, but he knew what ‘online’ was, and could guess that it was a game with swords and monsters and getting to meet other people.</p><p>
Dudley confirmed that not even a day later, when he was bragging to Harry. Dudley had said there were, in fact, swords in Sword Art Online. And other people. All handsome and beautiful. How lifelike it was, how amazingly detailed the monsters were, all the things he could do, all the people he could talk with, how Harry would never get to experience such a magical world.</p><p>
And that, was Dudley’s mistake. He said the one world that was absolutely forbidden in the house. Magic, and all things relating to magic, was a punishable offense to the Dursleys. The one time they had ever punished Dudley was when he showed his parents a magic trick, not even a good one. So when Dudley told Harry that the world of Aincrad was magical, Vernon and Petunia took it as a personal insult on the level of someone selling drugs to Dudley.</p><p>
So Vernon decided to throw it all out. The NERVEgear, the copy of Sword Art Online, even the receipt that Vernon was proud to hold onto for bagging such an amazing deal for Dudley.</p><p>
Considering the NERVEgear had to be special ordered and delivered to England, it was exorbitantly expensive. At ten years old, even Harry knew that. Vernon had to use multiple favors from his job at Grunnings, and even deplete some of Dudley’s college fund to buy it. Add on top the that the cost of importing a beta version of a game that Dudley couldn’t even understand, it cost Vernon thousands of pounds and even more in favors he spent and now owes.</p><p>
All of that, gone. Just because Dudley said the word magic. And now, it was going into the trash. Harry knew what he was going to do. He was going to be punished for it, he knew that. It was probably going to be worse than the last time.</p><p>
Maybe they’d end up killing him this time, and then they’d have to explain that to everyone. ‘Oh, yes, our good for nothing delinquent nephew took this out of the trash so we locked him inside a cupboard until he died.’</p><p>
Even if they mange to explain it all away, it’s going to hang over their heads for years. That the child they were in charge of raising died. Questions would be asked. Questions they have to answer. He doesn’t even know his own parents names, but they’d have to tell the police.</p><p>
So, one way or the other, Harry was going to leave the Dursleys. Whether he hides the NERVEgear until he’s old enough to leave permanently, or he dies and gets reunited with his parents.</p><p>
He was going to steal the NERVEgear, and he was going to use it. He had a plan, formed as quickly as his brain could provide. He’d only use it at night for a couple hours. After the Dursleys had gone to bed. That should stave off the suspicion for at least a little while.</p><p>
And that’s what he did. The chores were min-numbing, but he could deal with it, because he knew at night, he’d finally leave the Dursleys. He snuck out, raided the trash as quietly as he could, and snuck back into the cupboard. The Dursleys never check inside to make sure he doesn’t have something he shouldn’t, so he just hid it in the bottom of an old box with all of his hand-me-down clothes.</p><p>
He does his own laundry so really, no one else would ever find it.</p><p>
He spent an hour reading the manual on how to use it.</p><p>
He tried to, anyways. It was all in Japanese, and he didn’t understand a word of it. Luckily, with the pictures, it was rather simple to puzzle out. Put on the helmet, lay down, push some buttons. So, that’s what he did. He would only have another hour to get used to it, so he was going to make the most of it.</p>
<p>What Harry didn’t know, couldn’t have known, was that he was quite literally magical. A wizard. And electronics tended to fail around magical beings.</p><p>
He would never have known, because he his circumstances were different that others. The Dursleys home was protected by Blood Wards, and constantly draining his magic. Although this had a peculiar effect on Harry, that the Blood Wards didn’t drain a specific amount from Harry, but a specific percent. 95% of his magic went into the wards, constantly. And with such a constant drain on his magic, and him being constantly in danger at Dursleys by them malnourishing him, hurting him, and often keeping him in unsanitary conditions, his magic had to work overdrive just to keep him alive.</p><p>
And the Blood Wards were unique in that with Harry’s magic growing, not in terms of quantity but quality, the wards eventually developed a rudimentary level of sentience. Enough to know recognize that his life would be in danger in the house but also that it was meant to protect Harry’s life. It eventually started to believe that Harry would be in a greater amount of danger outside of it.</p><p>
This was untrue, as even though there were people who wanted Harry to die for reasons beyond his control, those people would never do so themselves in such an obvious fashion. They didn’t even know where he was.</p><p>
And, to a person with all this information, it would be obvious. Harry has never encountered another magical being since he arrived at the Dursleys. With that information, and the fact that Harry would be safer quite literally anywhere else at this point, a person would have removed Harry from this environment.</p><p>
But the Blood Wards are not sapient enough to recognize this. Only it’s purpose to keep Harry safe, Harry’s level of safety here, and that was it. That’s why when Harry ran away, someone noticed and called the police to bring him back. That’s why, no matter how the Dursleys treat him, no one questions it because Harry would be removed from the house, and Harry needed to stay there to be protected.</p><p>
But Harry desperately wanted to leave. So much so, that even the Blood Wards recognized this. That Harry, being a magical child, his wants and needs would almost physically manifest in the world.</p><p>
If a magical toddler wanted a thing, that thing would float towards them. If a magical child wanted to fly, they would fly. If they wanted a blanket, they would conjure a blanket.</p><p>
Harry, more than anything, wanted to leave, but the Blood Wards wouldn’t let him.</p><p>
So, when a solution presented itself with the means to keep Harry here, but let think experience leaving, it set out to make the technology work.</p><p>
Harry’s magic, while in greater amounts that a child his age would have, was abnormally dense. What that meant in practical terms, was that when Harry and another child of his age cast the same spell, even if they used the same amount of magic, Harry’s would be stronger, because his magic was simply more.</p><p>
And the Blood Wards had access to a full 95% of Harry’s magic. So when Harry wanted the technology to work for him, even though it shouldn’t work, and for any other magical wouldn’t work…it did.</p><p>
Harry’s first sight was the NERVEgear’s menu. His freedom from the Dursley’s was little more than the press of a button away. The feeling was overwhelming to Harry, and for the first time in years, he cried.</p><p>
And for the first time in his life, they were happy tears.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Harry Potter was a happy player. His avatar was made to look like he thought he would look like as an adult. He loved his parents, and he knew they loved him as well. So he didn’t want to change his appearance. Boys look like their fathers with a little bit of their mother mixed in, and Harry wanted to know what that looked like. In the word of Aincrad, beta version it might be, he was free. He could run as far as he wanted, play games, smile, and best of all, no one could hurt him!</p>
<p>
They could say as many mean things as they wanted, but they couldn’t fight him unless it was a duel, which Harry never accepted. He got to do all the things he wanted to try.</p>
<p>
Harry Potter was not a nice player. The only games he could remember were in the same vein as Dudley’s ‘Harry Hunting’. Dudley always looked so happy when playing, and Harry wanted to know what that felt like.</p>
<p>
So, he hunted the other players. He hunted them until they cursed his name, but he didn’t care. No one cared to stop Dudley’s gang when they hunted him, so why should he care? And not only did he get to have fun, he got rewarded! The players he hunted would run straight into a monster, and most of the time they were so surprised that the monster always just managed to win. And then Harry would finish off the monster, and get all the loot.</p>
<p>
‘Monsutābeitā’ they called him. No one wanted to trade with him, buy any of his loot, or even party up with him.</p>
<p>
Which was fine with him, he was used to being alone. He had, completely unknowingly, developed a reputation as being one of the worst players on the server.<br/>
The Hunting games he would play were among the many things that would give him the title of ‘worst player’. He never broke any of the rules. He always stayed exactly in bounds.</p>
<p>
As a result of his ‘style’ of using Aincrad as a playground for all the things he wanted to try, he developed more Support Skills. He wasn’t planning on any particular build, didn’t even want a few of the skills he got, but he was just so excited to have them.</p>
<p>
Outside of the game world, Harry tried his hardest to go to the library and learn Japanese. Aincrad was his sanctuary from the Dursleys. He wanted to explore all of it. For some reason, the school computer didn’t work right around Harry, so he always had to look up everything in book. And Vernon didn’t like Harry going to the library, so he had to sneak lessons in wherever he could.</p>
<p>
It made things seem impossibly slow, but Harry managed to slog through enough that in a few weeks, his Japanese was no longer ‘offensive’.</p>
<p>
He learned enough that he finally managed to translate his skills into English, as well as what they do in-game. Throughout the course of his playtime in Aincrad, he managed to acquire many abilities, though he eventually reached a plateau at level 20.</p>
<p>
Support Skills</p>
<p>
-Listening: A skill that enhances audio for the user, the higher the number the greater the distance</p>
<p>
-Tracking: A skill that provides visual clues for the user in the form of highlighting various ‘clues’ for the users target</p>
<p>
-Searching: A skill every novice player acquires when they start out, it gives the user a sense of direction as well as quest markers, and augments other accuracy based skills</p>
<p>
-Movement: A skill that grants the user greater mobility</p>
<p>
Stealth: A skill that hides the user, dampening smell and sound, blurring the user from sight, and liming Tracking clues.</p>
<p>
Combat Skills</p>
<p>
-Backstab: A skill that grants the user critical hits in combat when attacking an opponent’s weak points, augmented by Searching</p>
<p>
-Dodge: A skill that, when activated, allows the user to increase the ‘chance’ that an opponents attack will miss</p>
<p>
-Swift: A skill that increases a player’s movement speed temporarily</p>
<p>
Weapon Skills</p>
<p>
-One Handed Dagger: A skill that allows one to attack with one handed daggers</p>
<p>
-Blade Throwing: A skill that allows one to throw small knives from a cache from the inventory, augmented by searching and Backstab</p>
<p>
Other Skills</p>
<p>
-Cooking: A skill that increases the buffs from items cooked through the in-game menu</p>
<p>
Harry also had a few skills that were odd to say the least. One skill said:</p>
<p>
$*%($(*#%’# (!@$^&amp;#</p>
<p>
There wasn’t even a description. Just an error code. The other read:</p>
<p>
Blood Sacrifice: A skill that protects the recipient from death.</p>
<p>
Harry didn’t think it was too odd, a bit of ‘flavor’ to get around the idea that dying would end the journey, and therefore the game. But, when Harry asked other players what they thought about the skill, they either ignored him or told him it didn’t exist.</p>
<p>
There were also two more skills:</p>
<p>
Untitled: To Be Revealed at Aincrad’s Launch</p>
<p>
Though, near the end of the beta version, Harry noticed one peculiar thing. He was really lonely. Dudley always had a gang with him. He used to laugh at his nickname, but people said it like the Dursleys said ‘freak’. It bothered him now. He wasn’t going to change, but when the beta ended and the completed version came out, he decided he wanted to form a party with someone. Hunt with them.</p>
<p>
Play games with them.</p>
<p>
Then the day finally came. His NERVEgear chimed with the notification he was waiting for. Aincrad had been released to the wider public, and he had the code needed to access the perfected world.</p><p>At midnight that special night, Harry was laying in his cupboard with the NERVEgear resting gently on his head and silently counting down along with the timer that showed him how long he had left until Sword Art Online had finished updating. Tonight, Harry decided, he wasn’t going to stop playing Aincrad. This first night, was going to be his only night. He didn’t want to ever leave Aincrad.</p>
<p>
And the Blood Wards stirred.</p>
<p>
Once the timer reached zero, and he heard that special chime, he pressed the button that only he could see, that let him access the world. Soon, he would never have to leave Aincrad.</p>
<p>
And the Blood Wards stirred.</p>
<p>
The Dursley’s were going to actually kill him this time. When he didn’t ‘wake up’ to make their stupid meals and do their stupid chores in this stupid house all to get thrown in this stupid cupboard, they were going to kill him. Not on purpose, probably, but they were going to let him starve to death, and Harry wouldn’t make a peep. He would die.</p>
<p>
And the Blood Wards trembled.</p>
<p>
To Harry it wouldn’t matter. After tonight, it would never matter. The Dursley’s house was never this home. It never was, and never would be. Aincrad would be his home. His first home. His last home. His only home. The beta version was just an escape for Harry, but that’s just because he was waiting for Aincrad. Waiting to adventure, to play, to live, to laugh.</p>
<p>
He waited impatiently until the opening credits passed by, selected the option to import his character, not out of any real love for it, more for conveniences sake than anything else. His first step into the world of Sword Art Online was amazing. He could see the world open up before him, gentle grasslands, forests with trees that whistled in the wind, beautiful architecture surrounded him.</p>
<p>
He could cry. He did cry. He never felt such a sense of peace, warmth, comfort, a sense of belonging he never felt before. This was what a home should be. This is what his home was. Aincrad. He would live here, for a few glorious hours, then the Dursleys would take it away. For tonight, it wouldn’t matter. Aincrad was finally here, and he was finally home.</p>
<p>
And the Blood Wards reacted.</p><p>The Blood wards are not sapient. It can’t think on it’s own. All it knows, and all it will ever know, is that ‘Harry must be protected from death while he lives at home’. At the start, that was all it was. Then it evolved to believe ‘Harry could only be protected from death while he lives at his home’. And it believed that the Dursleys home was Harry’s home, because Harry lived there. So the Blood Wards needed to keep Harry at the Dursleys to protect him from death, and that’s what it did.</p>
<p>
The police never questioned about the too-thin boy with hand-me-down everything that obviously was being hurt, at best.</p>
<p>
The neighbors never questioned why the Dursley’s forced the small child to do all the chores.</p>
<p>
The teachers never questioned why Harry thought his name was ‘Boy Freak’ at school until they spoke with the Dursleys.</p>
<p>
The nurses and doctors never questioned why Harry had all these minor but numerous ‘accidents’ when he was doing his chores, or when his Aunt Marge came with her dogs.</p>
<p>
Because ‘Harry’ was ‘at home’ and needed to be ‘protected from death’.</p>
<p>
Until Harry’s magic interacted with the Blood Wards that night. Until the Blood Wards realized Harry was never ‘at home’ even if he was ‘protected from death’ because of the wards. It felt nothing. It can’t feel anything. It only interpreted this ‘new information’ as: Harry is inside the cupboard while his mind is away in Aincrad. Harry stated his home was Aincrad. The Dursley’s will kill Harry when they find him. Harry needs to be protected from death while he lives at home. So the Blood Wards rescinded the protection from the property, from the neighborhood, from everyone that had contact with Harry.</p>
<p>
And it surged around the boy living in the cupboard. Harry needed to live in Aincrad to be protected from death, but it doesn’t know how to achieve that permanently. So it didn’t bother. It altered the Dursley’s minds to ‘forget’ about Harry Potter. It altered the cupboard with a powerful charm to drive away attention from those without magic.</p>
<p>
It did everything in its power to ensure Harry lived in Aincrad as long as possible. But it doesn’t know about the NERVEgear on Harry’s head. It’s a foreign tool. Filled with a foreign language that it doesn’t understand.</p>
<p>
So, it began to learn.</p><p>For Harry, he wanted to do things differently. No one wanted to play with him in the beta, and that was fine for then, but this was now. And Harry wanted more friends. He didn’t know how to make friends, but he wanted to try. He didn’t know where to start, but he figured he would learn if he watched people. He was particularly proud of his Stealth skill, so he activated that right away, and began to people-watch.</p>
<p>
It was…enlightening. Almost no one acted like Dudley did. And the ones that did act like Dudley were not people Harry wanted to be friends with. And all the people that looked like they would be good friends stayed away from the people that acted like Dudley.</p>
<p>
To Harry, the obvious answer was just don’t be like Dudley and he’ll make friends. He isn’t Dudley. He hates Dudley. So why didn’t he make any friends in the beta version? Why didn’t people want to talk to him and games with him?</p>
<p>
Because he was acting like Dudley.</p>
<p>
The thought shook him to his core. He only knew about the games Dudley played, so he played those games. But other people didn’t want to play those games, because they were games Dudley played and they were not Dudley.</p>
<p>
Harry had to bite his lip to keep from crying out in frustration. How could he make friends if people thought he was acting like Dudley? Then another thought came to Harry. Was it okay to play Dudley Games on people who were Dudley?</p>
<p>
Maybe. And maybe people would see he wasn’t like Dudley, he didn’t know that his games were not fun for other people. He should have realized because he was forced to play the games and he hated it, but he didn’t know.</p>
<p>
He also didn’t know any other games to play, so he kept watching. He followed a few people, he learned a bit more about how people interacted with one another. He watched how people exchanged information, laughed, smiled, and reminisced about life outside Aincrad.</p>
<p>
Harry disregarded the last, he was never leaving Aincrad so it didn’t matter.</p>
<p>
He thought he recognized another person from the beta test, so Harry followed him a bit. He never got the chance to ‘play’ with this person, but he did see the player around. He didn’t know his name, and he kept far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to hear him when he talked.</p>
<p>
The other player began working with another player, one who hadn’t played the beta. And Harry saw something beautiful. These people worked together to slay some monsters, and both had smiled so genuinely. Was that what these games were about? Teaming up with other people to take down monsters? Harry wanted to go up to question them, but all three of them were suddenly teleported back home.</p>
<p>
Everyone was freaking and everyone was especially freaking out when a mirror appeared in everyone’s hands. Harry just dropped it because it didn’t matter, and what was going on with the people in Aincrad was more important. Harry’s mirror was now counted as ‘unequipped’ by the games logic, so he alone was sparred from the ‘miracle’ that happened to everyone else.</p>
<p>
All the game avatars disappeared, and in their place was their ‘real’ appearance according to the screams and shouts. Harry looked down and saw his in-game avatar, so he wasn’t that concerned. Not that it mattered much, because what happened next was more important.</p>
<p>
The sky lit up with the glow of WARNING signs. Out of those warning signs, a god appeared.</p>
<p>
“No one will leave Aincrad until all 100 floors have been cleared. This may be a game, but this is no joke.”</p>
<p>
Harry was tense, he shakily opened up his menu and searched for a log-out button and found…nothing. He truly would never have to leave Aincrad. He covered his mouth, and someone grabbed his shoulder to steady him. They would have backed away if they could see Harry’s grin. This was a dream come true.</p>
<p>
“My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world. Right now you see the log-out button has disappeared from the menu. This is not a bug, this is all a part of the Sword Art Online system. By my design.”</p>
<p>
“What kind of shitty design is that?!” Someone yelled.</p>
<p>
“Until all the floors of my castle have been cleared, you cannot leave this world. You cannot leave by dismantling the NERVEgear as well. If you, or someone else tries, the NERVEgear will send out an electromagnetic pulse and force all of your body’s natural functions to cease, to put it simply: you will die.”</p>
<p>
Harry overheard the two players he was stalking talk about how, while difficult, it was possible to force the NERVEgear to kill a person.</p>
<p>
“Bullshit! What if there’s a power outage, or someone take it off of us, huh?!” A different person in the crowd yelled.</p>
<p>
“I am not a monster.” The system administrator, the god of this world said. “Disconnection from a power source for more than 10 minutes, or being cut off from the system for more than 2 hours will result in your deaths. As well as purposefully dismantling, unlocking, or destroying the NERVEgear.”</p>
<p>
A very calm looking, yet severe man spoke to Akihiko. “We can’t communicate with the outside world. How will we let them know your conditions. Will we die of they do so without our consent.”</p>
<p>
“All news outlets, governments and the public itself are very aware that I am holding you all hostage here. They all know my conditions, and the conditions that will result in your deaths. I have also, personally sent a message to all families of all registered Sword Art players through various social media platforms. Regretfully…some families have chosen to ignore my warnings and tried to ‘free’ them from my grasp. As a result, two hundred and thirteen humans have lost their lives.”</p>
<p>
A few people fell to the floor, and started to cry. Harry didn’t know what they were so sad about. They get to live in Aincrad forever. Even death wouldn’t just boot them back to the awful reality they lived in.</p>
<p>
“And, do not worry about your bodies in the real world either. The world knows of your predicament, and they know to move you all to a hospital to get the care your bodies need. Relax, and focus on clearing all one hundred floors.”</p>
<p>
Harry wanted to speak with the man. He knew Akihiko’s speech was being translated, because that’s what the title above his head was stating, though it was so small and no one else was paying attention to the spot above his head. ‘Universal Translation’. He sent a private message to Akihiko about his situation. No  one would care about Harry dying, no one would look for him. And no one would understand Harry if he said this out loud, because even if he understands basic Japanese, he can’t speak it.</p>
<p>
Akihiko looked down on Harry, ignoring the private message to speak to him directly. “In which case, you will die. It is unfortunate, but though I am a god here, I am but a man out there. I cannot plan for every single scenario. Use your time here wisely, and have as much fun as you can.”</p>
<p>
He appeared to turn his attention back to the other players, his outfit making it difficult to guess where he was looking. “Another thing, you only have one life in this world. There is no revival system, no returning to base, no respawns. You have this one life to live as full a life as you can.”</p>
<p>
“The hell is that supposed to mean, ‘live this live as full as you can’?! I want to go home, I have a family!”</p>
<p>
“I am not a monster.” Akihiko repeated. “If even one of you completes all one hundred floors, you will all log out, safe and sound. You will wake up in a hospital bed, hopefully surrounded by that same family, having only lost as much time as you spent here.”</p>
<p>
“Why? Why are you doing this to us?!” One woman screamed.</p>
<p>
Akihiko looked down at all the players. “Why, you ask? If I had a purpose when I started, I have long forgotten it. Now, this situation is my purpose. I have no need of money, power, anything that anyone could offer me is of no use. This world, and you ten thousand players are my ultimate purpose. Live, dream, fight, win. Now, everything has been realized. The tutorial has ended. Fight bravely.” His final words said, he disappeared.</p><p>Harry woke up, and saw the familiar sight of his ‘house’ in Aincrad. It has been a solid month since they were all trapped here. At first, it was rather hectic. More than a few people died on a quest, not believing Akihiko. A few people up and jumped off a cliff or committed suicide hoping that they’ll force the NERVEgear to wake them up.</p>
<p>
They never respawned, so Harry was under the assumption that what Akihiko was saying was accurate. He overheard a few people discussing about how it was even likely he could do something like this. About how simple it was to rig up a program to do…Harry couldn’t remember the technical jargon, but they said it would require a huge battery, which all NERVEgear systems had. All it would require is sending the right ‘signals’ to the brain to shut down, and the body with it.</p>
<p>
They had come up with their own economic system with the native currency, cor. Harry didn’t pay attention to it, and it wasn’t like he would ever use it in the beta, but there was something special about seeing a group of people come together and form the basis of an economy. Buying and selling goods in quantities large and small. They had tried to ignore Harry at first, and many people were afraid partying up with him would lead to them dying.</p>
<p>
He hadn’t gotten anyone killed, but that didn’t stop rumors from spreading. He supposed he’d have to thank Akihiko for creating the Monument. A simple black obelisk, that updated the second a player died with the method they died from.</p>
<p>
The first week Harry went out with the other adventurers, was filled with blame. Not that Harry partied with the others, or even went to the same area as them, he just went out at the same time to earn some cor. But a person here or there wouldn’t be used to the SWO system, they’d die, and they’d say Harry led a monster to them.<br/>
But he would come back with loot from monsters nowhere near where the others died. And the monsters would always be enemies that the adventures couldn’t even weaken enough to make a difference.</p>
<p>
The started calling him a beater. A combination of ‘cheater’ and ‘beta tester’. He had quite a few levels on everyone else. And even though most of his gear was looted, it was still a fairly high quality.</p>
<p>
So, going from a ‘monster baiter’ to a ‘cheating beta tester’ was an upgrade in his opinion. Even though no one would party with him.</p>
<p>
Some days were easier than others, and he got hurt often, but he’d always only just come out on top. Not that he risked his life or anything.</p>
<p>
Many people wanted to play Sword Art Online because it looked fun, but with the real possibility of death, there were very few people who even wanted to leave the starting area.</p>
<p>
That was the reason the Merchant’s Association was formed. They would buy food, pelts, whatever they could off of the ‘real’ adventurers, and sell them at below market price to the others. This system wouldn’t work in the real world, but luckily for the normal people in Aincrad, there was an unofficial guild that raked in the cor to buy things over the market price from the Merchant’s Association to make up the difference. They jokingly called themselves the ‘Farmer’s Market’.</p>
<p>
And Harry was one of them. The goal was to farm the lower levels where the enemies would respawn, and use the cor they gained to buy out all the ‘useless’ items from the Association and flood the market with ‘household goods’. Meats, veggies, fish, everything a person would need to ‘live’ was sold to the normal folks at ridiculously small prices, all so the normal people could feel better about themselves. They would do odd jobs, blacksmithing, leatherworking, carpentry, everyone who didn’t want to fight had a job, no one was homeless, and no one went hungry.</p>
<p>
Harry overheard someone calling it a ‘brutal utopia’, where everything was provided to the people, but there was an obvious class divide. Heh, ‘class’ divide. Harry would chuckle every time he thought about that pun.<br/>
The warriors, not all of them but a large enough percentage, would look down on everyone else for not doing ‘what needs to be done’ to escape from Aincrad. And everyone else would look at them as ‘meatheads that wouldn’t survive in the real world’. Well, that’s the majority opinion, anyway. And that’s only for certain types of people. Warriors still had fan clubs among the rest of the population, of course.</p>
<p>
There was a pretty girl Harry heard others call ‘Asuna’. She’d hang around with that one guy from the beta he knew about named Kirito. Girls were still gross, but Asuna was nice. Even to him. She was mostly indifferent, at first.</p>
<p>
The other beta testers would often tell anyone who would listen about how horrible he was, and how he would definitely get them killed, but she never looked at him like he was the kind of person who would do that. Even Kirito rolled his eyes at them. They defended him once or twice, and only that little because it used to happen so often, and then it didn’t.</p>
<p>
Everyone had other things to worry about, like escaping.</p>
<p>
Everyone else.</p>
<p>
“I’m serious.” Harry’s avatar spoke in a smooth cultured voice. “They really would let me die. Not on purpose, but out of neglect.” In the month that Harry was in Aincrad, he picked up a fluency in japanese very quickly. He wasn’t perfect, but by now everyone knew he was English, and was trying his hardest to learn the language.<br/>
“I don’t believe you dude.” Another member of the Farmer’s Market shook his head at Harry. “No one is that heartless. And even if they were, the smell coming from your room would force the neighbors to call the cops thinking there was a dead body there or something.”</p>
<p>
A woman took a swig of ‘ale’ from her mug, and slammed it down roughly. “Y-yeah!” She hiccupped. “Ain’t no one gonna let ler die!” She fell face first onto the table, and passed out.</p>
<p>
Harry shrugged. “It’s been a month now, what did you say about survival? Three days without water, three weeks without food?”</p>
<p>
“Yeah,” the man started, “if they were gonna let you die, then you would have been gone by now. Especially since the NERVEgear would have run out of internal power, overheated, and maybe even exploded. I heard from a buddy that the bastard sent out a technical document about how to care for the headset without the parts dying off.” He took a swig of beer. “They still need to replace parts occasionally, and they need to work fast, that’s probably why the bastard gave everyone a grave period for being disconnected.”</p>
<p>
Harry nodded. “And since it’s been this long already, I’m probably not dead. Unless I’ve already died and become a ghost.” Harry chuckled softly. Adults chuckle, and he’s still pretending to be an adult, so giggling was out of the question.</p><p>You’d have to forgive the Dursleys for selling the house and moving far away. And you’d have to forgive the neighbors for moving. And you’d have to forgive everyone for not moving into the house. It smelled absolutely rotten and no matter what anyone did, they couldn’t find the source and remove it.</p>
<p>
The secret, that no one found, was the cupboard under the stairs. The Blood Wards had obscured Harry, and his ‘bedroom’ from discovery, but the consequences of Harry being there was hidden. There wasn’t a need to.<br/>
Not with Harry dying.</p>
<p>
Magic could keep someone alive far longer than someone without. Harry should have died in that first week he was there. The wards should have failed, his body discovered, and an investigation should have been done.</p>
<p>
But there wasn’t, and there won’t be, because Harry was set to die.</p>
<p>
But the Blood Wards disagreed. The wards were now tied more directly to Harry, so even though it still couldn’t be counted as a sapient, it now could feel. And it was indignant. It has one job, and it will keep Harry alive. No longer ‘while he’s at home’, but if just living is going to kill Harry, than the Blood Wards needed to step up.</p>
<p>
It needed more power. More than Harry was providing. The Blood Wards are plural, because it was more than just Lily that died that night in the house, on the night that made Harry so famous to his people, magical creatures, wizards and witches.</p>
<p>
His mother died protecting him, and his father died protecting them. What the Blood Wards needed, was another sacrifice to power it. If it was going to keep Harry alive, and tie itself further to Harry, then something needed to be done.</p>
<p>
And luckily, there was one such sacrifice, ready and unwilling as it may be.</p>
<p>
Harry had a skill called ‘$*%($(*#%’# (!@$^&amp;#’. It took a month for the Blood Wards to understand what that meant. What that skill actually was. ‘Voldemort’s Horcrux’. A soul, leeching off of Harry’s magic, keeping itself alive through Harry. And it was just the thing the Blood Wards could use.</p>
<p>
It was a two-for-one deal. The Wards would gain another layer of protection. ‘Mother’, ‘Father’, and ‘Enemy’. Father would take over the duty of ‘protect’ creating a shield that would keep Harry safe from the thing that were supposed to kill him. Mother would take over the duty of ‘Harry’ and keep him alive and as happy as it could. Enemy would take over ‘death’ and fight back against the things that would threaten Harry.</p>
<p>
It wouldn’t be an easy thing, it would take a lot of power, and it wasn’t some be-all-end-all ability. Harry could still die from any number of things, and the Wards could be overpowered, but it had a plan, and it had a duty. First, the foreign object needed to be removed. Then, Harry would need to be moved into Aincrad on objectively. Then, Harry’s body needed to be moved to a more secure location. Last, Harry would be moved back into his body.</p>
<p>
And it would do so. It reached out to Harry, frail and dirty and dying, and it gently touched the lightning bolt scar on Harry’s head.</p><p>Harry was screaming. The guild was in disarray. No one could understand what they were witnessing. Harry was dying. Someone checked his drink and food for poison. Murders in this world still happened. There was nothing. Someone shouted about his situation, how he wouldn’t be taken to a hospital to be cared for. Everyone believed him now. They could see his health bar declining. Green. Yellow. Red.</p>
<p>
Nothing. Harry shattered, as all things in this world do when they die. Everything was silent, and some people even cried.</p>
<p>
Then it happened. The shattered pieces seemed to force themselves back into the shape of ‘Harry’. His health bar, was still depleted.</p>
<p>
Harry screamed. He shattered. He died. He reformed. He screamed. He shattered. He died. Over and over again, and the Farmer’s Market, all of them, ran. They didn’t know what was happening. They didn’t want whatever was happening to Harry to happen to them. Maybe it was a glitch, maybe it could spread. They didn’t know. They didn’t want to die.</p>
<p>
So Harry was left in the tavern, in the middle of nowhere, where no one would come, and he died. Again and again and again. It lasted for what felt like years to Harry. Aincrad was a virtual world, and Harry was a virtual character, so his voice couldn’t go hoarse from screaming.</p>
<p>
It wasn’t years. More like hours. When it happened, Harry looked at himself. No longer the big, strong, competent ‘Monster Baiter’. Just Harry. A boy of nine years old. His forehead bleeding. Bleeding. You don’t bleed in Aincrad. This…was strange. Bad.</p>
<p>
Harry ran.</p><p>“Hey, help!” A man yelled at the backs of two people. Strong, definitely. Asuna and her ‘guard’. Members of the Knights of the Blood.</p>
<p>
Asuna turned around and raised an eyebrow.<br/>
“It’s Harry! He shattered!” The man took a deep breath.</p>
<p>
Asuna’s guard scowled. “Unfortunate, but we can’t do anything, don’t waste our time!”</p>
<p>
“No, you don’t understand!” The man grabbed Asuna’s shirt. “He keeps shattering! He gets shattered, fixed, and shatters again!”</p>
<p>
“Impossible!” The guard growled and shoved the man away from Asuna. “No one can respawn!”</p>
<p>
“He isn’t respawning! It’s a…a glitch or something, it just keep happening and he keeps screaming!” The man whimpered. “He just keeps screaming…”</p>
<p>
Asuna took a breath. “Ueda! Take him to base and have Heathcliff debrief him!” She took off running towards the area where the Farmer’s Market guild members set up a tavern in a ‘safe zone’. If this ‘Harry’ was in trouble, she’d help. If she could find out whatever is causing him to not die when shattered, even if he was in great physical pain, it would be worth it.</p>
<p>
She knew who they were talking about. Harry the Monster Baiter. Hated in the beta for being scum who preyed on the weak, and took joy in their suffering. She thought such a man would undoubtably join Laughing Coffin. He would fit right in. She even saw him a few times, wandering around the city. Just…looking at people. As if they were an incomprehensible thing to him. He acted like he hadn’t interacted with anyone in his life.</p>
<p>
She saw him bring a bunch of cor to the Association, heard he joined the Farmer’s Market, and heard rumors that it wasn’t him, but a new person who took over the account.</p>
<p>
But, her guild takes information gathering very seriously. It could mean the difference between life and death. They have a report on Harry. That every time he had someone killed in the beta, he would life like it was all a game, and one of the guild members proposed that perhaps he simply was just playing a game. It was all virtual, it didn’t really matter, and even if he built up a bad reputation, he was just having fun.</p>
<p>
It didn’t excuse his behavior, they argued, it wasn’t a decent thing to do. Not at all, but they argued that he must have known it was unacceptable, because even before the Announcement, the beginning of the Death Game, Harry hadn’t ‘hunted’ a single person.</p>
<p>
He couldn’t be all bad if he realizes his actions have consequences. So Asuna wanted to help him realize that. Be not just ‘reformed’ but a good person. To help him realize his potential, join Knights of the Blood and save everybody. She tried various means to meet up with him, but her ‘guards’ often blocked her meeting.</p>
<p>
With him and everyone else. She wasn’t a delicate flower, she was a warrior, she could handle herself. She was strong.</p>
<p>
Until she opened the door and saw a little boy, bleeding from the head, sobbing.</p>
<p>
Asuna knew what Harry looked like. She had gotten reports of what he looked like in the beta, and he hadn’t changed at all. People assumed that he modelled his character over what he really looks like. But she could see that wasn’t it. For whatever reason, he didn’t change back.</p>
<p>
Harry was playing games with other people, hunting them, making them fight monsters, because he was a child in a world of adults who didn’t know how to play with them.</p>
<p>
She wasn’t aware of this though, she didn’t have time to think about that. In front of her was someone who needed her, was hurt, alone, and afraid. She ran up to him and hugged him as hard as she could. “It’s going to be okay, you understand? Everything’s going to be alright.”</p>
<p>
Harry grabbed her as hard as he could. In the real world, it wouldn’t be much. In Aincrad, if they were dueling, she would have taken some damage. “It hurt. So much. It wouldn’t stop.” He sounded so frail right now.</p>
<p>
She stroked his hair. “I know, I know, but it’s over now. Come one, we need to get you somewhere safe.”</p>
<p>
He shook his head. “This is safe…” He meant that building. It was dead center of a designated safe zone.</p>
<p>
She thought he meant ‘I am safe with you’. That was fine with her, she joined her guild to protect people, to save them. She picked Harry up off the floor, cradled him gently, and activated her teleport item, which would take them both directly to her room at the guild headquarters. “We need to get you cleaned up.”</p>
<p>
They vanished, and Harry never felt safer.</p><p>Lily and James Potter sacrificed their life for their son. It was an incredibly complicated process that resulted in the Blood Wards creation. The sacrifice of Voldemort was even more complex.</p>
<p>
Voldemort was a soul. Unbound from his body. He had always thought that immortality was his goal. And it was. But it was overwritten by the purpose of the wards. The Blood Wards, are not sapient.</p>
<p>
Voldemort is. He can see every wisp of magic in the Blood Wards, it’s composition, it’s directive, purpose, ability, everything and it was more than he was capable of. Right now, he was an all powerful being, and he never considered this a possibility. To become one with magic. Immortality, power, it was everything he wanted, and it was delivered to him at the hands of the one destined to kill him!</p>
<p>
The irony of it made him want to laugh out loud. He wished he had a body that was capable of it.</p>
<p>
His crusade against the filthy muggles of the world, he could see it was unfounded. Aincrad was so interesting. If the muggles could do that, how powerful would he be! Right now he was like a newly born god. He could control the life of one person, Harry Potter. He wouldn’t control it, as thanks for giving him such tremendous power. He could see the words of the prophecy about Harry.</p>
<p>
If he reinterprets one single line, ‘either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives’…so long as Harry lives, Voldemort is also immortal. What better way to keep Harry alive than to… ‘tweak’ the Blood Wards.</p>
<p>
He felt himself being constricted and would have rolled his eyes. ‘If I had more power, if Harry had more power, he would be protected from even more things than death.’ He sent to the greater consciousness. He felt curiosity from the connection. ‘Aincrad has many skills, many abilities. I-we could replicate them, give them to Harry. He will use you-us to protect himself.’ And he would gain even more power, attached to the boy as he was. He felt acceptance, and all of the wards began to look at the muggle device. They found nothing until they happened upon a little black box, and the thing that used to be Voldemort’s worldview exploded.</p>
<p>
Ideas. Possibilities. Capabilities. A language that defined the universe, at least the universe of Aincrad. It would take considerable time to interpret this, to learn about this world and what they could do, but they had time.</p>
<p>
Dumbledore’s lackeys knew Harry was ‘in danger’ from the pulse of magic the wards sent out earlier.</p>
<p>
Even if Voldemort’s identity was subsumed by this…thing that had a hold of him, that was fine. He’d still live forever, and have unimaginable power.</p><p>In a far off location, various objects in a room belonging to Albus Dumbledore shattered, and he gathered a group of his best friends and most powerful allies to head to the home of Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, the savior of the Wizarding World.</p>
<p>
He was in critical condition, and Dumbledore only hoped they made it in time to rescue Harry, who had done so much for them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next week was difficult for Harry. He had closed his eyes when Asuna teleported them to her guild, and when he opened them the first thing he saw was the guild leader, one of the most famous in the Death Game, Heathcliff. He was staring directly at Harry, eyes wide as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. And so were many others.</p><p>
Harry was young, too young to be playing Sword Art Online, and too young to be as high a level as he was. Too young to be in Aincrad. Heathcliff had said so himself. ‘This world is only for adults. I am sorry you are forced to participate in the Death Game.’</p><p>
When Harry responded that it was still better then living with the Durselys, that he actually got to eat a full meal even if it was virtual, that he got to go outside and play…Heathcliff had frowned slightly, and Asuna gripped him tighter.</p><p>
Heathcliff had told Asuna that Harry was now her responsibility. Harry disagreed. He still had all his skills, all his experience, all his items, he was still level 34 at this point, he just looked like he did on the outside.</p><p>
Heathcliff told him it doesn’t matter, whatever glitch was responsible for his new state could have serious consequences. That bleeding was impossible in Aincrad, the sensors can’t pick it up, and that Aincrad didn’t have the capability for it. If Akihiko had designed that functionality, he was enough of a sociopath to tell everyone about it and not force it on one random player and let the information disseminate naturally.</p><p>
Harry agreed that it was strange, but he had a duty to fulfill. He was part of the Farmer’s Market, and he needed to help everyone as best he can. Asuna frowned and told him he needed to care for himself right now, that other people can wait, and that the Knights of the Blood will tell his guild that Harry needed to be isolated until they figured out what had happened.</p><p>
Harry frowned, but he couldn’t refute that point. So he spent the week with Heathcliff, locked in a room. Asuna showed up every now and again, and updated him on the Farmer’s Market. They were doing fine, but asked to stay close to base just in case whatever happened to Harry was contagious. The Merchant’s Association had spread the word that ‘due to an incident with their suppliers, the next week’s supplies will be rationed’. The regular folk didn’t like that, but were told they could go and retrieve their own supplies if they wanted. They quieted down.</p><p>
It was the morning of the eighth day that Heathcliff had walked in with a set of papers. “I can’t find anything about you that would allow what happened to you. Replicating your most recent feats have done nothing, so we are left to assume that it was a fault in the NERVEgear itself do to your…situation at your previous residence.” Everyone who interacted with Harry was quick to learn that the Dursleys did not qualify as a ‘home’ for Harry, especially since Harry consistently spoke about Aincrad being his first home.</p><p>
“Finally!” He flopped backwards onto the bed. “Can I get back to hunting now?” He opened up his inventory and started to scroll through it.</p><p>
Heathcliff nodded and motioned towards the door. “You may, but with an escort, to document any lingering effects that you may experience. It’s odd enough that you now bleed, and have a fully biological system that, quite frankly, is outside the realm of possibility for a virtual environment not dedicated to it.”</p><p>
Harry jumped off the bed and started walking. “Blood cells and a functioning nervous system, all that gooey stuff, no one else has it.”</p><p>
Heathcliff grabbed his shoulder. “No one can. Harry, Aincrad was created to reach the very limit of what the NERVEgear can support. Every system, every texture is at the maximum of it’s capabilities. The human body is a complex machine, and to fully map it out in the virtual world would reach that same level of complexity as Aincrad. This is more than impossible, this information can’t be revealed outside this room.”</p><p>
Harry rolled his eyes. “I’m young, not stupid”</p><p>
“The young are often stupid.” Heathcliff retorted with an eye-roll of his own.</p><p>
Harry pulled open the door. “And the stupid in Aincrad don’t last as long.”</p><p>
His babysitter, because that’s what she was in Harry’s eyes, cuffed him lightly on the back of his head. “It’s impolite to speak ill of the deceased.” She had decided not to treat him as a fragile, unprepared toddler who got lost and needed help.</p><p>
He rubbed the back of his head. “Everyone was told what would happen if we died in the game Asuna, and some people just straight up jumped off a cliff. I don’t mean the people who are actually fighting for our way home, they deserve to be honored.” He shook his head. “But when someone tells you, ‘doing this means death’, and you do it, you are stupid.”</p><p>
Asuna frowned. “They were scared, and didn’t understand the consequences of their actions.” She crossed her arms and glared. “Regardless, it isn’t polite to speak ill of the deceased no matter what you may think or have thought about them.”</p><p>
Heathcliff nodded. “And being impolite means Hell Training.”</p><p>
Asuna pouted. “It’s not Hell Training! It’s a simple educational course on common decency!”</p><p>
“Why can’t it be both?” Harry smiled at her.</p><p>
Heathcliff nodded. “Indeed. Just because it’s a crash course on etiquette doesn’t mean it’s intense or stressful.”</p><p>
“Why are we picking on Asuna today?” A young man in a black coat asked as he walked towards the group.</p><p>
Harry beamed at him. “Kirito! We’re talking about Asuna’s stunt as a teacher!”</p><p>
Kirito was a new addition to the Knights of the Blood. Asuna was going to leave the guild to party up with Kirito, when Heathcliff posed a challenge. Defeat him in battle, or join the guild. And Kirito, the player with the fastest reaction time, lost to Heathcliff. The player who never entered yellow. It was a close match, but the result was clear. In the time that followed, Kirito made fast friends with most of the guild, but with Asuna especially. And when he met Harry for the first time, he didn’t treat him like a child, but as an accomplished player.</p><p>
Asuna didn’t like it, at the time she thought that what Harry needed was care and protection, but Kirito understood Harry in a way she couldn’t.</p><p>
In reality, Kirito was so stunned that an infamous player was in actuality was a child below eleven, he defaulted to treating him as he would have if Harry looked as he used to, and just kept acting that way.</p><p>
“Oh, you mean Hell Training?” Kirito laughed as Asuna playfully punched his shoulder. “Joking, I’m joking! We only call it that when you aren’t around, promise!”</p><p>
“You better, or I’ll-hey!” She began chasing Kirito around the room to the amusement of the rest of the random guild members. Harry giggled. He can giggle now because he isn’t an adult. He decided it was rather freeing.</p><p>
Once Kirito and Asuna grew ‘tired’ from their game of tag, they returned to Harry and Heathcliff, who were standing alone near one of the pillars in the guild hall. As famous and personable as Heathcliff was, he was nothing compared to The-Boy-Who-Lived. A stupid title that Harry hated. What did he do to earn that title? Didn’t die when he was supposed to, the lamest reason to earn a title ever. He hoped when they all got out of here that no one would call him by that name ever again, so awful…</p><p>
Harry stepped forwards between the two adults he liked most. His entire life was a series of disappointing and horrible adults. Even Akihito, who had given him Aincrad and allowed him to stay was only a distant figure in his mind. It wasn’t enough for Harry to connect to him, but over the course of seven days, Asuna and Kirito had proven they were more trustworthy than almost everyone he had ever met.</p><p>
Not even among his guildmates. They ran from Harry when he needed it. In his head he knew why, and even agreed with them. But in his heart, he couldn’t trust them for leaving when he needed it. He understood that, and they understood that. That’s why no one made a fuss that Harry was now ‘permanently’ in the care of the Knights of the Blood.</p><p>
“So,” Kirito turned towards Harry, “what’s the plan?”</p><p>
Harry shrugged. “We know what happens when I get damaged, but I don’t know if my skills work the same way as before. We also don’t know what happens when I defeat monsters so…party up and head to a beginner area to fight off some monsters?”</p><p>
Asuna nodded. “To make sure you still have the ability to defeat monsters?”</p><p>
Harry shook his head. “I need to make sure that monsters die around me. If they don’t, then I’ll be stuck in town for however long it takes to finish the game.”</p><p>
Kirito paused mid-step and frowned. “I hadn’t even considered that possibility. If you er… ‘reformed’ after shattering, is it possible that monsters near you would as well? Like a ‘field’ that extends the glitch outwards?”</p><p>
Asuna glared at Kirito for bringing up a horrible part of Harry’s past, that happened so recently.</p><p>
But Harry grew up with the Dursley’s, and learned fast to repress whatever he felt until he didn’t anymore. He had since learned to let out good emotions, but he retained the ability to suppress the bad ones. So, he just nodded, and felt nothing.</p><p>
Kirito shrugged at Asuna, and nodded at Harry. “We’ll be near, but hanging back, if the monsters manage to overwhelm you somehow.”</p><p>
Harry pulled out a teleport crystal from his inventory. “Yeah yeah, let’s go, I haven’t eaten a decent meal in a week.”</p><p>
Asuna frowned. “I’ve been making all of your meals.”</p><p>
“Food tastes better when I make it myself.” Harry shrugged.</p><p>
“I like your cooking though.” Kirito smiled at Asuna, until Harry activated the crystal and they all disappeared.</p><p>
It was a split second later that they reappeared right at the entrance to a massively open field, filled with boars, a level 1-5 type monster. Harry grinned wildly at the sight of the level one monsters, and felt a hum of energy beneath his fingers before giggling and rushing straight at the monsters.</p><p>
Kirito watched Harry charge straight at the monsters, preparing to see Harry, level 34, slaughter the monsters, and only prepared to rush in if the monsters behaved abnormally.</p><p>
Asuna watched Harry charge straight at the monsters, and prepared to rush in the second she so much as thinks Harry needs help. She sees him, and tries to treat him normally, but all she can remember of him is seeing the frail, small boy bleeding on the floor.</p><p>
Harry noticed something wrong right away. He tried to use one of his combat skills, and couldn’t. He kept trying and trying, but that split second activation was out of his reach. He would have run the other direction, but he noticed all his passive skills were still functioning correctly, so he tried something new. He jumped on top of the closest boar and stabbed it in the back himself.</p><p>
And the skill activated, Backstab hit a critical spot and massively overkilled the boar. Harry fell to the ground as the boar shattered and left behind some common loot.</p><p>
Harry flexed his hands and stared down at the loot. Backstab is a simple skill, and it should have actively guided him directly onto the designated spot where the boar’s weakness was. From automatically moving him onto the boar’s back, to driving the knife home in the spot where Harry had long since memorized the weak point to be.</p><p>
“This isn’t good.” He sighed as he picked up the loot. “Do I need to find the weak spots myself now if I encounter a new enemy?” He activated another Skill, Searching. It made his brain hurt a little bit and it didn’t work right away, but eventually all the monsters around him lit up with a red glow and all the available items he could pick up were lit in a green glow. Most importantly however, Harry saw an arrow on the boar where the weak point was. He ran over to Asuna and Kirito to tell them the news.</p><p>
“That isn’t good.” Kirito mimicked Harry’s earlier statement.</p><p>
Asuna was more vocal. “It’s terrible is what it is! What if the weak point only showed up because you knew where it was? What if it only works on monsters you’ve already beaten? What if-”</p><p>
Harry cut her off. “Then we test it on the monsters I’ve defeated and then go find monsters I haven’t.”</p><p>
“That’s too dangerous!” She snapped at Harry before biting her lip. “We can’t just risk your life on tests. We can’t risk anyone’s life on tests Harry.” She kneeled down and grabbed him by the shoulders. “If something happened to you, that would hurt us Harry.”</p><p>
Kirito nodded. “It would. But…”</p><p>
Harry blinked a tear from his eye and nodded at Kirito. “But we still have to do it. Supervised of course, but it’s something that needs to be done.</p><p>
Asuna frowned and gripped Harry tighter. “*^%F$, you can just go (*&amp;5 to Aincrad and ^(^()76, why are you wincing?”</p><p>
“It…it sounds like static when you talk?” The noise was grating on Harry’s ears and he ended up grabbing his head.</p><p>
“$%#* (&amp;^% $&amp;^%$ (%%^#*( hanashite imasu ka? Nani ga seitekidesu ka?”</p><p>
Harry blinked at the status window in front of him.</p><p>
Hidden Skill Deactivated: International Language Translate</p><p>
“Oh. I don’t speak Japanese.” Harry tried pressing activating the Skill again. Nothing. He pressed it a few tried a few more times before blinking at Asuna and Kirito. “Yeah. I don’t speak Japanese. I know a few words, and can read the Skill lists or most of the inventory but…”</p><p>
Kirito frowned. “Harry-kun?”</p><p>
Asuna started panicking and whipped out another teleport crystal to bring them back to Heathcliff and the Knights of the Blood.</p><p>
Harry shook his head and managed one thought before he felt something weird and attached to him attach to the crystal, linking them together. ‘We use the crystals a lot, these things are expensive.’</p><p>
Harry stood around listening to everyone speak a language he didn’t know understand, picking up a few common words he knew from translating his Skill list outside Aincrad. Heathcliff wasn’t around this time, probably leading an expedition, but one of the other members approached him. He saw her around the guild, mainly as support.</p><p>
“Harry-kun? Can you understand me?” She spoke slowly.</p><p>
Harry nodded. “Yeah. What’s ‘kun’ mean?”</p><p>
She frowned. “It’s an honorific you attach at the end of a name, used for young males and a few others, but you’ve been speaking Japanese since the start of Aincrad, why can’t you now?”</p><p>
“I’ve been speaking English the entire time.” Harry shook his head. “I couldn’t understand anyone in the Beta, a few words here and there sure, but others…” he shrugged. “Everyone’s been speaking Japanese since the Hidden Skill got deactivated. International Language Translate.”</p><p>
“The woman turned to the group and began speaking Japanese. Harry figured she must be translating and discussing what to do. Asuna nodded and looked at Harry with eyes filled with determination. Harry was afraid. The woman turned back to him. “Harry-kun, we need you to take a few more classes again, this one is going to take longer. You, well, you need to learn Japanese. Properly.”</p><p>
Harry slumped over. “Another of Asuna’s Hell Training courses? Wasn’t manners enough?”</p><p>
The woman giggled and translated for the group.</p><p>
Kirito snorted and Asuna smacked him on the back of the head.</p><p>The next few months were…like a dream to Harry. He knew about affection, and even experience it, even if only a little at a time. His time at the Knights of the Blood though, free from his previous isolation week and actually interacting with people were astonishing. There were some bad eggs in the basket, but for the most part, everyone treated him like a child. A capable child, but still just a child. Head pats, smiles, even some candies. Put a starving person in front of a feast, and they’ll eat everything they can, as fast as they can, and the same was true for Harry who was starved of the affection you give to a child.</p><p>
As such, in his ‘Hell Training’ course, he tried as hard as he could. He gave his absolute best effort. It wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t a genius or anything like that, but it was still impressive.</p><p>
Kirito would often join them, who wasn’t as versed as Asuna in English, and reversed the lessons so he could improve his language skills.</p><p>
Outside of the lessons, the three of them would still party up and take on a few monsters, continuously testing the limits of his new Skills, and writing down the results to present to the guild master Heathcliff.</p><p>
And, as a consequence of the three of them spending so much time together in and out of a teaching environment, their relationship evolved into more of a family unit. They didn’t acknowledge it vocally, but they knew it.</p><p>
On some days after Harry had fallen asleep, Asuna and Kirito would discuss adopting Harry outside of Aincrad. The logistics of it, where they would live, financial struggles, everything. Mostly to get him away from his current home, but mostly because they did come to see him as a son. They didn’t want to bring it up with Harry yet, on the off chance that they couldn’t do anything, but they did spread some feelers around to people with a legal background.</p><p>
Asuna and Kirito’s relationship skyrocketed into something out of a fairy tale.  They were a golden couple, and after Harry’s Japanese was enough that he understood what individual words meant, he began noticing people talk about a ‘red string of fate’ behind Asuna and Kirito’s backs.</p><p>
Upon some independent research, he agreed. They were tied together, and Harry was finally fluent enough in Japanese that the only thing that would improve it would be experience. Classes were over, he could hunt monsters again, he had a wonderful family. At this point the only thing missing was…</p><p>
“You’re getting married?!” Harry asked excitedly, almost bouncing up and down.</p><p>
Asuna and Kirito nodded at Harry solemnly. “Yes, Harry-kun.” Asuna knelt and hugged Harry. “We want to make it work, but…”</p><p>
Kirito nodded. “We need some…time away from everything.”</p><p>
“Not that we don’t want to spend time here with you!” Asuns hurried to reassure him. “But Kiri-kun and I, we want to ah…deepen our relationship before we-” She stopped herself.</p><p>
Harry giggled. “I know what a honeymoon is, and I’ll be fine here.” He was used to being left alone for large amounts of time, and while this past month gave him a family, he still needed some time to himself. He actually was feeling a little smothered, but it was outweighed by all the other feelings Asuna and Kirito gave him.</p><p>
Asuna pulled him in for a tight hug. He reciprocated gladly, and secretly wished them a safe and happy trip. He wouldn’t say it out loud, wishes don’t come true if you say them out loud.</p><p>
As soon as Asuna released Harry, Kirito pulled him into a hug as well. “I know you can take care of yourself, but please be careful. We’ll be gone at least a month, and we’re having most of the guild take care of you. If you need anything at all, let them know and they’ll message us. We’re one teleport crystal away.”</p><p>
Harry hugged him and nodded. He wouldn’t say anything because honestly? He is going to miss them, but he had been missing the thrill of solo hunting more. There wasn’t much he could do when everyone was all together, Asuna was the type to worry about every little thing going wrong. He often held back so she wouldn’t worry but he was really looking forward to raiding one of the monster floors and getting back into the swing of things. At least for a while anyways.</p><p>
And it was absolutely glorious. Scores of monsters fell to Harry’s new and improved hunting methods. He couldn’t just activate his Backstab Skill and expect the Skill to auto-complete his actions anymore, now he actually had to use Searching, move his way towards the weakpoint, and manually activate it. Tedious yes, but now that he’s gotten into the habit of Searching before every attack he no longer gets surprised. On top of that, he’s finding all sorts of items in the fields now!</p><p>
Every day was a blast, wonderful stress relief. Even if he missed his family, whatever Asuna and Kirito were to him they were family. The Knights of the Blood, most of them anyway, were not quite as helpful. They were fun to be with, but they tended to treat him with something bordering on disinterest. Like he was only useful because he was associated with the top performers of the guild, and his job at the Farmer’s Market was something that was beneath them. Even if they benefitted from his labor.</p><p>
Still, it didn’t matter much to him, because he had his family.</p><p>
Two months passed by this way for Harry, making a living. Not gaining any levels, but perfecting the Skills he did have. It was the day Kirito and Asuna returned that Harry felt something he hadn’t felt since he first laid eyes on the NERVEgear. Jealousy.</p><p>
They came back, yes. They also came back with a young girl, who was hanging off their arms and holding them tightly. But he buried the bad feelings under the happy ones, just glad they were back again.</p><p>
Kirito was the first to spot him in the crowd and offered Harry a warm smile. “Harry-kun, we’re back!” He waved with his free hand.</p><p>
Asuna dragged all three of them over, and pushed the young girl into Harry before hugging both of them tightly. “We have news!” She practically screamed in his ear.</p><p>
“Yes, I can feel that.” He answered her statement, with the new girl literally squeezed between the three of them. He looked at Kirito for help, she was beginning to squeeze both of them rather hard.</p><p>
Kirito shook his head, the traitor. “Some things happened on our honeymoon, and now you have a sister.”</p><p>
Harry stilled completely. “There are many things wrong with that statement.” In shock, he reverted to his native tongue.</p><p>
“Like what?” The young girl asked him. “Oh, and I’m Yui!” She smiled at him.</p><p>
“First of all,” he deadpanned, “I know where babies come from and I know it takes a lot longer than a month for a mother and father to have a child. And longer still for that child to grow up.” He tore himself away from the hug and from Yui, who he was really starting to dislike. “Second of all, I’m pretty sure I’d remember the news that my deadbeat parents had a second child. The Dursely’s would never be able to shut up about it.”</p><p>
“Ah.” Kirito said. “That’s because we have news for you.” He knelt and clasped Harry’s shoulders tightly. “You’re adopted.”</p><p>
“If you want to be!” Asuna rushed her part out.</p><p>
Harry blinked. “Oh…um…sure?” He hesitated. Parents were out of his experience. He knew what his parents were, and he knew that Vernon and Petunia were rotten people, so…what would happen if they became Harry’s parents?</p><p>
Probably nothing, he decided. It was just a title, what mattered was what he felt about them.</p><p>
And he didn’t like Yui. Vernon and Petunia hated Harry, because he took away things from Dudley that he deserved. Food, clothes, space, everything. They claimed he even took toys away from him because if they didn’t need to spend money on him for food, Dudley would have more toys.</p><p>
Were Asuna and Kirito going to treat him like the Dursleys? Probably not, as it as explained to him multiple times by multiple people, they were rotten people.</p><p>
But that doesn’t the fact that Harry’s family had grown by one. Would she take Kirito and Asuna away from him?</p><p>
No. That wasn’t Harry’s fear. That wasn’t why he disliked Yui being there, being his sister. He knew why he didn’t like her. If she was there, if one of them took away affection from the other, how would they be treated by their parents? By everyone? If Yui took attention from Harry, would he be back in the same situation?</p><p>
He could always run away and live like he used to, but it would hurt. A lot. But what if Harry took away affection from Yui? Would she be treated like he was? He didn’t want anyone to live like that. So his only choice, the only one he could see, was that he not show her affection. If either of his worst fears manifested, then he’d need to leave immediately. He already cared deeply for Asuna and Kirito, and if he started to care for Yui, that would make leaving much harder.</p><p>
So he started to hate her. It was surprisingly simple to do. All he had to do was focus all of his bad emotions onto Yui, and find reasons to not like her. He didn’t like the way she smiled at him, it reminded him of when Piers would smile at Dudley before they beat him. He didn’t like the way she held onto them so easily. He still had trouble letting people touch him. He didn’t like the way she was dressed. It reminded him of all the clothes he never got to have. He did not like Yui.</p><p>
He had to save her from the adults, so he hated her.<br/>
Yui, however, was not a simple child. She was, strictly speaking, not even human. She was a mental health counseling program. She was an artificial intelligence made, still learning how to help people. She had all the knowledge of how to help people, but without the experience. She wasn’t aware of this, and all that information was tightly packed away in her subconscious, but it was there.</p><p>
And she saw through Harry’s attempt at hating her. She knew all about Harry. All about his life previous home life. About the shattering event, how Asuna found him, she knew it all. He was going to be her older brother after all, so she had to learn these things. And she was going to help him. It was fine if he hated her now, she could deal with it.</p><p>
She was going to be the best little sister he ever had. Well, the only little sister he’s ever had so far, but still! She’d show him, she wasn’t going to ‘steal’ Asuna and Kirito away from her. They were all going to be one big family. And she knew just how to do it.</p><p>
“Mom, Dad, can I play with Harry?” She smiled at her parents.</p><p>
Asuna nodded frantically and pushed them towards the exit. “Yes! Absolutely! Go have fun!”</p><p>
Harry blinked and received a message from a private sender. ‘Let’s go hunting. -Yui’. He didn’t know what she was trying to pull here, but this was just the sort of thing to show her how strong he is, that he can definitely take care of himself, and how much better at surviving the Death Game he can be. They were out the door, and Harry started running towards an area filled with impressive looking monsters that weren’t all that difficult to beat.</p><p>Kirito frowned at Asuna. “I thought the plan was to spend time together as a family and talk about our feelings? How the addition of Yui wasn’t going to change our dynamic and that we’d always be Harry’s family?”</p><p>
Asuna turned and raised a single eyebrow at him before crossing her arms defiantly. “I panicked.”</p><p>
Kirito sighed.</p><p>Yui was in awe. At least, that’s what she looked like to Harry, which is good because she should be. He was showing her how he’s the absolute best when it’s coming to dealing with monsters.</p><p>
She was also very weird. She kept praising his abilities, which was nice. And that was the problem for Harry. It was nice. She shouldn’t be nice, they were going to fight each other! Not literally, but the winner gets a family, and it was a battle Harry…probably wanted to win. Yui was an enemy, but she was nice. Maybe she didn’t know that they were supposed to be enemies?</p><p>
…</p><p>
Harry was going to have to teach her. It was the only way. “Listen, Yui-san, can I call you that?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “I don’t think you understand our position here. We are not friends. Siblings, yes, but only for now. We need to fight each other.” He frowned at her confused expression. “Not literally. Metaphorically. Only one of us can have Kirito and Asuna, that’s just the way it is.”</p><p>
She looked at him fiercely and nodded. It wasn’t adorable at all.</p><p>
“It’s going to be tough. One of us is going to have to leave. You saw me take care of the monsters, so you know I can take care of myself.” An errant thought occurred to Harry. “How skilled are you at taking down monsters?”</p><p>
“Not even a little!” She declared almost proudly.</p><p>
Harry gaped at her. “How did you survive?!”</p><p>
“I ran away from every fight!” She placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, proudly.</p><p>
Good. Lord. He was going to have to teach her how to fight. She couldn’t survive on her own, and even though he was going to win Asuna and Kirito, he couldn’t just…just leave her! She wouldn’t survive a second!</p><p>
“Okay. New plan!” Harry grasped Yui’s shoulders tightly. It reassured him when Kirito did that, and Yui needed to learn that he’d help her even if he absolutely didn’t like her. At all. Not even a little. “We’re going to grind out some levels for you. You need to be able to take care of yourself!”</p><p>
He turned around and Yui grinned maliciously. Operation: ‘Make Harry Love Yui!’ is progressing, all according to plan… make herself seem weak and defenseless and need guidance from her older brother is simply phase one!</p><p>
Harry was unaware of Yui’s plan, being a normal child, and as such, decided to take Yui towards another spot that was filled with much more powerful monsters so he could weaken them and power level Yui up until she could at least take on ten or twenty boars. Maybe a goblin hoard or two. She’ll need to be at least that strong when she leaves the safety of their family… ‘my family’, he corrected in his head.</p><p>
He didn’t even notice as Yui grabbed Harry by his equipment and started following happily along, still planning to bring Yui up to at least a level that would keep her alive.</p><p>
It wasn’t long until he brought her into a field full of level 10 monsters. “Alright Yui, here’s the plan. I’m going to attack everything here. Then when they are weak enough I’ll tie them up, bring them back towards you, teach you how to spot their weak points, and show you how to kill them. That should get you at least a few skills, and a few levels. We’ll do this a few more times until I’m sure you can handle it on your own. Okay?”</p><p>
“Right!” Yui held up a fist and nodded. She ran towards a bush and hid behind it. When she was fully concealed, she stuck out her arm and gave Harry a thumbs up.</p><p>
She was going to need all the help she could get. Harry shook his head and began moving towards a cluster of lizards. A level 38 against even a group of level 10s, it was an absolute slaughter. He tied up a few of them, and dragged them back over to Yui.</p><p>
She popped out from the bush, and Harry had to pull a few pieces of foliage from her hair.</p><p>
Yui smiled, but Harry had no idea that it was placed there by here for the express purpose of making Harry pull it out from her, because obviously she needs the help to do it, otherwise it wouldn’t have gotten caught there in the first place. Grooming is an important part of acceptance among animals, and no matter how people deny it there is just a bit of overlap. In the furthest reaches of his brain, Harry is accepting Yui as a member of ‘his pack’ to put it bluntly and a little inaccurately. Teaching her to hunt and grooming her. Soon, he will call her imōto.</p><p>
She raised a knife she had carefully picked out from her inventory, closed her eyes, and yelled out while stabbing the lizard. In the wrong spot. Harry sighed and step three was in motion. Harry grabbed her hands and guided it towards the weak spot.</p><p>
“Here, see where it’s slightly discolored? The weak point is right here, and don’t stab like that, you’ll hurt your wrist…well, you won’t learn the skill properly anyway. You know what, let me help you.” Harry leaned over and showed her the proper way to handle the dagger. Which was actually not part of her plan, she genuinely didn’t know how to properly handle a knife so this was useful information and she  gave her new brother her undivided attention.</p><p>
This was an excellent bonding experience after all.</p><p>
Harry lifted her hands, still clutching her own hands, and swiftly lowered them onto the lizard. She’d need a lot more than one lizard, they have a long day ahead of them.</p><p>They spent the next five hours together, and Harry had decided that when Yui was removed from the family, that he’d always try and make time to help her out. It was the least he could do for her seeing as she wasn’t the absolute worst person he could end up with. She also was way better than Dudley or any of his friends. Not that that was a huge achievement or anything, but it was still notable. Of course, after that, they both went back to base at the Knights of the Blood.</p><p>
For Harry, this was an entirely new battlefield. He had to prove to Asuna and Kirito that he was the right choice for a child. Their child. Maybe they could squeeze Yui in as a cousin or a family friend, but it was going to be a long, drawn out battle.</p><p>
Yui squeezed Harry’s hand that he only just realized he was holding. “Yui. I’m going to win.” He said solemnly. She knew it was a battle, he told her himself. But she just nodded along, and only seemed to pretend to go along with it. She’ll see in time.</p><p>
They walked in, and Harry was dragged by Yui towards Asuna and Kirito. She had leveled up quite extensively, and now was a fair but stronger. Not as strong as Harry, but he would humor her.</p><p>
“Mom! Dad! Guess what! Big brother played games with me all day!” Yui cheerfully exclaimed while slyly showing off to Asuna that Harry was holding her hand.</p><p>
Harry sighed. Now was the time that Kirito and Asuna picked their side, Yui forced it to happen much earlier than he would have preferred, but it was still going to happen now. They’d say something like-</p><p>
“Wonderful! I’m so glad you both are getting along! I’ll make dinner to celebrate!” Asuna sped off to the kitchen.</p><p>
…Not that. Wasn’t it supposed to be angry? Or…something? Not joyous, that’s for sure</p><p>
“Good job Harry, you’ll be a wonderful older brother, I’m sure of it!” Kirito ruffled Harry’s hair.</p><p>
Yui started to drag them off to a different part of the guild, his room, when a thought suddenly rocked his brain. Could a family…actually have two children? Divide their time equally between them both? It was a revolutionary idea.</p><p>
“Yui! I have a plan. Bear with me, it’ll take some doing and some…minor manipulation of mum and dad, but we can pull it off. I think…I think, we can convince them that it’s worth having both of us as their kids, and you’d be my younger sister.”</p><p>
Yui turned around and smiled at Harry. “Well, if you’re sure, then I’m sure!” Operation successful!</p><p>Outside of Aincrad at number 4 Privet Drive, Surrey, England, an old man in a fanciful robe appeared. With him were a few members of his staff, his most trusted advisors. They were here because it was the location that they found to be the epicenter of the magical blast that destroyed all of Harry’s monitoring charms. They would have been here earlier, but they feared the worst. That Harry Potter was kidnapped by the forces of the Dark, and taken to some far off location.</p><p>
Dumbledore heroically burst through the door, only to apply the bubblehead charm to himself because of the Merlin-be-damned stench. It was horrendous, no human should ever have to live like this!</p><p>
And it appears they didn’t, the house was completely empty. Bereft of furniture, pictures, food, anything that might indicate a person would live there. Flies aplenty, a few rats, but no human or magical creature would live here.</p><p>
A stern looking woman walked in besides him, Minerva McGonagall, his most most trusted advisor. She had seen him apply the bubblehead charm and cast it on herself before entering. A cursory glance around the house and she frowned. “There’s a notice-me-not charm, or something like it, on the cupboard. There, beneath the stairs. Also the origin of that horrendous smell.” She pulled out a wand and mumbled underneath her breath, and something on the stairs shattered, revealing the door Minerva had seen earlier.</p><p>
“Stay back my dear, I’ll open it.” Fearing some manner of magical beast, he opened the door to find…<br/>
Harry Potter.</p><p>
The-Boy-Who-Lived.</p><p>
Inside a cupboard, filled with filth, and refuse, and looking like a skeleton. Near death. “Poppy!” He screamed, and a woman rushed in after him. She began waving her own wand over the boy, ignoring his identity and only treating him as if he was another patient.</p><p>
She turned to address him, “he’s still alive, that helmet looking thing is sustaining him, at the same time drawing on his magic. We can augment it but I’ll need my potions and special kit back at Hogwarts.”</p><p>
He squared his shoulders. “Do it, as fast as you can. Whatever it takes, whatever you need, let me know. I don’t care if he needs dragon blood, ministry and their trade tax be damned you’ll have it!” He marched towards the exit as Poppy carefully picked up the boy and held an old sock in her free hand. With the sound of a pop, she and Harry were gone.</p><p>
Minerva raised an eyebrow at her Headmaster, not saying anything.</p><p>
“Yes Minerva, I know. ‘The worst sort of muggle.’ I dismissed you because no one could be so foolish as to do what they did…”</p><p>
“And what, pray tell, did they do?” She asked primly.<br/>
Dumbledore sighed. “There were powerful magics protecting Harry, Minerva, powerful magics. So long as Harry was at ‘home’ he was protected. I can’t imagine what Harry would have gone through that a helmet was considered more of a home than anyplace with his family…I can’t imagine…”</p><p>
Minerva nodded. “It’s impossible to imagine something we have no experience for, so I can’t blame you for that. Truth be told, I never expected this either. I imagined they’d be a little stern with him perhaps, but…no. We can’t dwell on this. There’s a problem we need to fix, so let’s fix it. After that, I’ll tan yer hide.”</p><p>
Dumbledore, currently the most powerful wizard in all of Britain, snorted heavily. “If Poppy doesn’t beat you too it.” He said morbidly.</p><p>
Minerva raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be foolish. We’ll take turns.” She pulled out two socks, threw one at his face, and they both disappeared.</p>
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